HUB CARES FOR AUTISM

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a rare disease in Lesotho which is neurodevelopmental disorder that affects one in 40 children and  Individuals with ASD have high rates of medical comorbidity, excess mortality, high health care expenditures, and difficulty accessing coordinated medical care. As the prevalence of ASD rises, consultation-liaison (C-L) psychiatrists will be increasingly called upon to assist patients with ASD both in inpatient and outpatient medical settings. There is also no  Act provides children with conditions like autism access to free and low-cost health services. This why it is difficult and challenging autistic child to be able to get access to evaluations, medication, therapy, and specialized devices either for free or at a very low cost. 

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder that starts in early childhood. Children with autism spectrum disorder look just like other children. Although they may have learning problems, they have normal or even above-average intelligence.

Children with autism spectrum disorder have difficulty communicating and interacting with people. They have problems reading the emotional signals from others that let them know how someone is feeling. They may also seem clumsy and tend to have repetitive behaviors, such as repeating certain routines or rituals over and over again. Children with autism spectrum disorder don't outgrow it — it is a lifetime condition — but with proper treatment most people can lead full and productive lives. These children need support in ensuring that they access their medication very well ,  need for them get full support from caregivers and aggregate support and acceptance from the society they are living in

HUB care Lesotho will improve the quality of life of people who diagnosed with autism. It will find  find solutions that empower patients with information and resources; promote community and connection; optimize holistic care that supports daily care management; improve data sharing between provider and patient; and mitigate barriers to accessing medical care after diagnosis.

HUB will help and support families and caregivers to better understand the diagnosis and learn practical strategies to support individuals with ASD, family support  that enables families to navigate systems of care, and social  skills group that are led by speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, mental health practitioners, and other professionals, and that support participants in developing skills that promote positive social interactions.

(a)  This project offers support daily care management for patients  with autism and give wholistic support to  their caregivers

(b) It will Mitigate barriers to accessing medical care after diagnosis which disproportionately affect disinvested communities and historically underrepresented identity groups;

(c) It will enhance coordination of care and strengthen data sharing between health care professionals, specialty services, and patients;

(d)This project  will fight stigma associated with autism through community awareness campaign  support  

This project directly seek to patient with autism and theirs caregivers .  This project will further support teachers who are doing this great job of teaching pupils with autism 

Direct target population are the majority of children with autism and few adults with autism. The project will seek support from the community members, with peers, caregivers , and other individuals to fully take care and support children with autism . This will remove the stigma to patients with autism . Most social skills group meetings include instruction in basic social concepts, role-playing or practice, and feedback to help autism acquire and practice communication, play, or social skills to promote positive interactions with peers.  

This initiative will give and support patient of autism to access their treatment . The dedicated HUB project team with its diverse skills and experiment will successfully implement this project.

The HUB cares for autism project team will work and in with the community members, key stakeholders, caregivers of  autism patients. Our team will device strategies to get implement this project initiatives , stakeholders management  plan will be well designed. communication plan will also be established particularly  for this project . Training tools will be done that enable smooth execution of this project intervention   

Our traditional consultation will includes time for observation, discussion with the caregivers, and a written report of suggested changes and program additions.

Our goal is that to offer full support and care for people with autism in Lesotho. Our team and consultants will not only provide the theoretical frameworks but will practically support support autism  patients 

Following are the reasons why applying for this challenge 

This grant challenge will enable EPH to meet and achieve project goals of taking care of of people with autism which the majority is children. This grant will also contribute to the MIT SOLVE to achieve its organizational goal and objectives  

Financially: To support proposed project activities , like trainings , outreach programs, project team support . This a has a barrier to support to fully support with rare disease like autism here in Lesotho. This challenge will definitely address this barrier. 

Legally : receiving the grant challenge will enable the advocacy program for the support of people with autism. Less advocacy has been done to advocate for the legal rights and support for people with autism disease. 

HUB aims to create a model for managing the care of children with ASD that not only improves care coordination, but also improves access to services and the quality of life for patients and their families. The solution will  be measuring outcomes such as family satisfaction and parental stress as part of the research initiative. The team at HUB hopes that by using care navigator as part of this program, families of patients with ASD can focus more on their child and their lives and less on healthcare management complexities.

HUB will also help with managing an ASD patient’s care by streamlining communication and workflows between health professionals, patients, parents, extended family, and community support systems. This will save time for primary care coordinators and other health professionals, so they can better serve the growing number of children with ASD. And parents will be able to easily coordinate with the patient’s community of care. Family members will also be able to access personalized educational and other resources through the mobile app.

Regardless of the due date or the end outcomes, great organizations encourage leaders at all levels to build goals that are relevant to a team or to individual roles, and also align with larger organizational goals which be sustainable .  Setting goals that are relevant to individuals but serve the organizational strategy ensures a well-rounded planning strategy of long-term, agile, and performance-focused goals that aim to improve efficiency, engagement, and bottom line business results — while generating personal meaning and purpose for the individuals or teams pursuing them. Regardless if goals are SMART approach to executing strategy, there are three main areas where you should focus your organizational goal strategy:

Performance goals, are rooted in current events and are designed to measure, analyse, and improve over time — usually on a quarterly, tri-annual, or bi-annual period of time. These goals can include achievements in education, problem-solving, and professional scenarios that clearly demonstrate some type of forward, measurable progress in which an individual will have some levels of regular conversations toward a performance goal. 

HUB will contribute significantly to most of the SDG ' s goals by 2030,  for instance to reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being

Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all

Support the research and development of vaccines and medicines for the communicable and non-communicable diseases that primarily affect developing countries, provide access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines, in accordance with the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, which affirms the right of developing countries to use to the full the provisions in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights regarding flexibilities to protect public health, and, in particular, provide access to medicines for all

Proportion of health facilities that have a core set of relevant essential medicines available and affordable on a sustainable basis

There will be reduction of death rates due to autism 

Children with autism will be supported with food , that means hunger and starvation will be curbed 

HUB theory of change will be on the following

1. Developmental – May be either planned or emergent; it is first order, or incremental. It is change that enhances or corrects existing aspects of an organisation, often focusing on the improvement of a skill or process

2. Transitional – Seeks to achieve a known desired state that is different from the existing one. It is episodic, planned and second order, or radical. Much of the organisational change literature is based on this type

3. Transformational – Is radical or second order in nature. It requires a shift in assumptions made by the organisation and its members. Transformation can result in an organisation that differs significantly in terms of structure, processes, culture and strategy. It may, therefore, result in the creation of an organisation that operates in developmental mode – one that continuously learns, adapts and improves.

SMS technology is the best technology that empower the solution.  SMS is The single SMS messaging is a simple SMS application where a user sends an SMS to one recipient. They simply enter the recipient’s mobile number (In international mobile standard with country code,)  or selects from the contact list, then the user types the message in the SMS body text field (limited to 160 characters). The message typed in the SMS body text box is only sent to one recipient as entered in the recipient’s number text box or selected from the contact list.

The system can show if the message has been successfully sent or not. The delivery report is also be made available in the delivery reports section of the system. The user can go to reports -> Delivery reports and view messages sent in the last 24hrs. This can be utilised  by caregivers, patients  and community members . Its not all people who uses smart phone to access Apps like what's app to communicate, but SMS can be accessed by everyone in the community.

What's App is another common technology that can be used for this solution

HUB will  incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion into its business or organizational  practices. There are several ways HUB can incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Here some  are  ways to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion into your business practices:

• Get Employee Feedback
• Diversify Your Hiring Practices
• Create a Culture That Values Differences
• Provide DEI Training
• Start With Leadership
• Encourage Collaboration
• Promote Pay Equity
• Review Your Company’s Frameworks
• Consider Gender Pronouns
• Build In Communication and Recognition

Get Employee Feedback 

HUB need to recognize that we are living in a time where diversity, equity, and inclusion are important priorities when running organization . Seeking employees for feedback on how to run organization can create a more welcoming and open environment. From their feedback, will  able to put diversity policies in place. These diversity and inclusion policies allow open conversation and better practices within our workplace.

Diversify Your Hiring Practices 

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) should be important to the mission, vision and value of your business. The best way to incorporate DEI starts with your hiring practices. When you hire with DEI in mind it will more naturally become a part of your culture and business practices.

Create a Culture That Values Differences    

Every individual at our company knows and understands their role in our culture. We encourage all our employees to identify and celebrate their differences and find ways to use those differences to add value to their position. A top-down approach doesn't drive commitment, so when you get all employees at all levels involved, you can make lasting change.

Reference Model: In the digital age, NGOs are being forced to develop and execute on digital strategies to remain relevant to donors and beneficiaries. Digital transformation and a digital strategy as being born in the nexus of people, platform, and process. The NGO Reference Model gives a standardised view of business processes to allow NGOs to plan for their digital future.

Other benefits of the model include:

• Identifies which activities create value/impact and which are the enabling/supporting services needed by the organisation
• Promotes cross-departmental and cross-organisation collaboration
• Useful tool to educate new employees or partners/suppliers to an NGO
• Helps to mainstream ‘Enterprise Architecture’ into NGOs
• Provides a basis for shared services discussions or the outsourcing of non-value add processes
• Benchmarking across organisations (e.g. what systems are in place to support business processes)
• Build a common understanding of who is doing what and create clear roles and responsibilities
• Help define the organisation operating model (how the organisation fits together):
  • Identify who is doing which part of the value chain
  • Enterprise–wide or local services
  • As-is vs to-be business process architecture

Financial sustainability is one of the key factor that HUB considers importance  because  it goes hand in hand with the project sustainability 

For example, a partial list of what the plan will probably include:

• A list of all items and needs of the project
• The amount required to sustain each item
• Current resources
• Required resources
• Potential matching and funding organizations or individuals, and
• Amount that will be requested from each organization, individual or funding source
• How it will be requested (and by whom, and when)

Planning for financial sustainability, then, is just one part of your overall plan for institutionalization. 

One thing a plan for financial sustainability will take, if done right, is time. It's a long process. At least in the short term, it will take quite a bit of effort on the part of project staff. 

BY DEVELOPING SUCH A PLAN, YOUR FINANCES SHOULD BECOME MORE SECURE, WHICH MEANS:

An increased focus on your real work. You can do more of what you set out to do, because your focus can be on the mission, not just on day-to-day survival.

Becoming more competitive in your field. For example, more money allows you to hire more and better staff, which, again, allows you to do more to obtain your mission.

Easier transitions. A plan can assist EPH organization in successful transition when current funding is depleted or dries up.

HOW DO PLAN FOR FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

EVERY ORGANIZATION IS UNIQUE, AND EACH WILL HAVE ITS OWN WAY OF DOING THINGS. PLANNING FOR FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY IS CERTAINLY NO DIFFERENT. 
 Funding in and of itself does not guarantee success or failure - poor groups may flourish, and rich ones may falter. The way funding decisions are carried out, however, can make very different organizations. 
DECIDE WHO WILL DEVELOP THE PLAN

HUB will inform other key stakeholders about - Financial planning  

Let staff, Board members, and your funders know what's going on. There are two reasons for this. First, they might have some excellent suggestions to  working group wouldn't have considered. If so, the plan will be even more effective than it would have otherwise.

Second, it helps build an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. There aren't unanswered questions, rumours in the office, or feelings of being "left out of the loop." Open communication is a very important part of any organization. Especially where money is concerned, people get antsy. Putting your cards on the table can take care of problems before they occur.

CONDUCT AN INTERNAL AUDIT

• How much money currently have
• How much money expect to have in the coming year, two years, etc.
• Where it is from
• What to do with it - how much money goes to programs, staff, etc.
• How much debt have

Make a list of what your group is doing now that is:

• Essential to organizational mission
• Something that organization should be doing

The first of these points is more obvious, although there may be some disagreement as to what is essential to the mission. l?

Decisions on what is essential will mean different things to different groups - there's not a set formula for making them. Because of this, an idea of what is necessary should be made as a group, with everyone working on the plan giving their input. 

Setting organizational objectives 

Now, look at the information in front and decide how much funding it may make sense to go after at this point.

If the  organization already has all of the money it needs (or is very close) this step might be very easy.

On the other hand, however, if there is a huge gap between how much money the organization have and the ideal amount, that may want to make choices, so that all of time isn't spent doing fundraising. 

Following are some of the current plan to achieve financial sustainability  

• Leveraging shared positions and resources
• Becoming a line item in an existing budget
• Incorporating activities and services in organizations with a similar mission
• Applying for grants
• Using existing personnel resources
• Soliciting in-kind support
• Fundraisers
• Using third-party funding
• Developing a fee-for-service structure
• Acquiring tax revenues
• Securing endowments and giving arrangements
• Establishing membership fees and dues
• Developing a business plan

Another way to look at it: Finding funding from partners